WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force fighter pilot about to be nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his call sign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below.

It was January 1991, and then-Capt. CQ Brown Jr. had just enough time in his parachute above alligator-full wetlands for a thought to pop into his head. “Hope there’s nothing down there,” Brown said in an interview at the Aspen Security Forum last year.

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and top Republican lawmaker Kevin McCarthy are edging close to a deal on the U.S. debt ceiling, with the parties just $70 billion apart on discretionary spending, according to a person familiar with the talks.

What is likely to emerge will not be a hundreds-page long bill, something that could take lawmakers days to write, read and vote on, but a slimmed-down agreement with a few key numbers, this source and another person briefed on negotiations said.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A U.S. senator on Thursday said he hopes Serbia would adopt Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, telling the Balkan country that “there is no future” in an alliance with Moscow.

“Russia’s invasion has been an absolute disaster and my belief is that Russia is ultimately going to lose this conflict,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn) told reporters in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Serbia is the only country in Europe that has not imposed any sanctions on Russia.

25 May 2023; MEMO: The Greek government is investigating claims of migrant push backs at the Aegean Sea following the emergence of video footage showing Greek coastguard units forcefully putting migrants on a black inflatable life raft and setting them adrift, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, AFP reports.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The mpox health emergency has ended, but U.S. health officials are aiming to prevent a repeat of last year’s outbreaks.

Mpox infections exploded early in the summer of 2022 in the wake of Pride gatherings. More than 30,000 U.S. cases were reported last year, most of them spread during sexual contact between gay and bisexual men. About 40 people died.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply limited the federal government’s authority to police water pollution into certain wetlands, the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.

The outcome could threaten efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi River and protect the Chesapeake Bay, among many projects, wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, breaking with the other five conservatives.

24 May 2023; MEMO: European Union Representative in Palestine, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, said Wednesday that all forms of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank are illegal, Anadolu News Agency reports.

This statement came during a visit by a delegation of European ambassadors and consuls to the Palestinian towns of Sebastia and Burqa in the northern West Bank.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries conducted large live-fire drills near the border with North Korea on Thursday, despite the North’s warning that it won’t tolerate what it calls an invasion rehearsal on its doorstep.

The drills, the first of five rounds of live-fire exercises through mid-June, mark 70 years since the establishment of the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. North Korea typically reacts to such major South Korean-U.S. exercises with missile and other weapons tests.

BALTIMORE (AP) — During a surprise commencement address to graduates of Johns Hopkins University on Thursday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told them to take advantage of the time and resources they have to pursue their passions and uphold the democratic values at stake in his country’s war against Russia.

He spoke via livestream from Ukraine, where the ongoing conflict has impacted the futures of countless young Ukrainians, robbing them of opportunities and loved ones, Zelenskyy said. He told Hopkins graduates to make the most of every moment.

BANGKOK, May 25 (Reuters) - The United States has declined to sell its F-35 stealth fighter jets to Thailand over issues with training and technical requirements, the Southeast Asian country's air force said on Thursday.

Thailand, which was designated a Major Non-NATO Ally by the United States in 2003, had last year set aside a 13.8 billion baht ($407.68 million) budget for new jets to replace its aging, mostly U.S.-made F-5 and F-16 fighters.

It identified up to eight Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) F-35A jets as its target.

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy on Thursday appeared to be nearing a deal to cut spending and raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, with little time to spare to head off the risk of default.

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/: The price of gas in Europe went down below $300 per thousand cubic meters during Thursday trading for the first time since May 20, 2021, according to London’s ICE.

June futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands fell to $298 per thousand cubic meters, or to 26.8 euro per MWh (on the basis of the current euro exchange rate against the dollar, prices at ICE are in euro per MWh).

The gas price has decreased by 3.3% in total since the start of trading day.